Forum Help

If you want to ask about changing your username, have login problems, have password problems or a technical issue please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

Posting help:

If you want to ask why a word can't be typed, your signature's been changed, or a post has been deleted see the Forum Rules. If you don't find the answer you can ask forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com though due to volumes we can't guarantee replies.

So my friend was off sick from work for 4 months due to work related stress and anxiety. This was caused by unfounded accusations pointed at her by her boss which have since been withdrawn.

During her time off she was messaged by a colleague with details of a job in a different company. The colleague was acting on behalf of the boss, even tho she said she'd heard of the job 'on the grapevine'. There is a witness to this. Her question is..is an employer allowed to contact a member of staff who is off sick with details about a job in another company?

Thank you John-K. My friend really just wanted to know. She didn't think it was appropriate to be sent job information whilst she was off sick. I don't think she ever told them she wanted to leave and thought the message was a bit, well underhand.

She is aware contacting employees is fine...to check how they are (according to the sickness policy) ..not to help get rid of them!! It actually caused her more stress.

Thank you John-K. My friend really just wanted to know. She didn't think it was appropriate to be sent job information whilst she was off sick. I don't think she ever told them she wanted to leave and thought the message was a bit, well underhand.

She is aware contacting employees is fine...to check how they are (according to the sickness policy) ..not to help get rid of them!! It actually caused her more stress.

Well, even if it IS underhanded surely it is something worth exploring?!

Currently:

- Your friend is not earning any money (unless they still get sick pay, but surely that will be lower than normal pay?). Also, your friend isn't currently getting experience/skills or even moving on with their life (unless they are running some scam like having a 2nd job whilst off sick, or studying etc)

- Their employer is a person down and as such is getting less work done.

- Your friend seems to hate the place anyway to be off for so long, and to think that the company are stitching her up here.

Encouraging an employee to resign just looks like a constructive dismissal.

If anything they should be contacting her to try to facilitate a return to work. If it's work related stress and there's nothing medically wrong then the only way to get her back to work is to discuss the issues with a view to resolving them.

ďI could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.Ē - P.G. Wodehouse

Well, even if it IS underhanded surely it is something worth exploring?!

Currently:

- Your friend is not earning any money (unless they still get sick pay, but surely that will be lower than normal pay?). Also, your friend isn't currently getting experience/skills or even moving on with their life (unless they are running some scam like having a 2nd job whilst off sick, or studying etc)

- Their employer is a person down and as such is getting less work done.

- Your friend seems to hate the place anyway to be off for so long, and to think that the company are stitching her up here.

As Elsien says, trying to prove that the boss was involved in sending the information about another job is going to be difficult or impossible. It would be the boss's word against that of the person who actually sent the e-mail, unless there is a paper trail, and the person who sent it is prepared to put their own job at risk.
If involved, it's something the boss should not have done. Either way, as the friend has been off sick for months maybe they should consider seeking employment elsewhere for their own sake.

Err, what about the line before it that says, "Should my employer be making contact with me if I am signed off work because of my stress?
Such contact can amount to fair and appropriate management by your employer, and is often beneficial to you too so that you donít have the feeling of being isolated or ignored."

“

For godís sake, that is from a firm of ambulance chasing lawyers, of course they are going to spin it to get people lining up for a compo claim.

They could probably go down the route of dismissal based on capacity if they really wanted to get rid of her.

The colleague ringing about "Another job" but "Acting on behalf of the boss" seems more long winded and unnecessary if they REALLY wanted to dismiss her.

Long-term sick

With long-term sickness absence, the employer still needs to consider the employee's right to put forward their case and balance that against the organisation's needs to carry out the procedure without unreasonable delay.Although an employee may be off sick, he or she may still be able to attend a disciplinary hearing - and employers should consider making reasonable adjustments to facilitate this. This could include visiting the employee at home or meeting in a neutral venue.If the hearing can't be postponed until the employee is well enough to attend, then the employer can, in exceptional circumstances, go ahead with the hearing in the employee's absence.

So my friend was off sick from work for 4 months due to work related stress and anxiety. This was caused by unfounded accusations pointed at her by her boss which have since been withdrawn.

During her time off she was messaged by a colleague with details of a job in a different company. The colleague was acting on behalf of the boss, even tho she said she'd heard of the job 'on the grapevine'. There is a witness to this. Her question is..is an employer allowed to contact a member of staff who is off sick with details about a job in another company?

Was the "hey your friend could do this job at xxx" before or after the allegation was withdrawn.

The person that sent the message is the one that should have put in a grievance or just said no I am not telling them.
(a smart boss would not have told them to send a message but just planted a seed).

The colleague may have been acting on behalf of the boss, but the boss was probably acting in a personal capacity, rather than on behalf of the company - a boss can be a person too, you know, with all the good and bad that entails, and can be separate from 'the company', just as an employee isn't the same as 'the company'.

If the company wanted to get rid of her, they'd take direct action, not drop silly little hints like this.

OP, it sounds as though your friend wasn't contacted by her employer. She was contacted by one of her colleagues.

As others have said, I think she would struggle to satisfy anyone that it was 'on behalf of' the boss, - from what you say, the message didn't say that, and you'd need both the person who sent the message and the witness to be willing to say that it was an instruction from the boss. And even then, in isolation it probably wouldn't be enough to result in a successful claim.

How this site works

We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of the site. We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong.

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

Do note, while we always aim to give you accurate product info at the point of publication, unfortunately price and terms of products and deals can always be changed by the provider afterwards, so double check first.

We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned (how likely they are to go bust), but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips).

We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content.

Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion.

MoneySavingExpert.com is part of the MoneySupermarket Group, but is entirely editorially independent. Its stance of putting consumers first is protected and enshrined in the legally-binding MSE Editorial Code.